Comparison by final AOL score and optimal number of attempts
| Demographic | Final AOL Score | PValue | Optimal | Suboptimal | PValue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0–1 (n = 23) | 2–3 (n = 71) | n = 61 | n= 33 | |||
| Age | 67.6 ± 18.3 | 65.0 ± 19.7 | .58 | 65.4 ± 19.8 | 65.7 ± 18.6 | .94 |
| Male sex | 11 (47.8) | 30 (42.2) | .82 | 25 (41.0) | 16 (48.5) | .52 |
| Prior history | ||||||
| Hypertension | 11 (47.8) | 41 (57.7) | .55 | 36 (59.0) | 16 (48.5) | .39 |
| Diabetes | 6 (26.1) | 12 (16.9) | .51 | 12 (19.7) | 6 (18.2) | 1 |
| Dyslipidemia | 5 (21.7) | 22 (31.0) | .56 | 19 (31.1) | 8 (24.2) | .63 |
| Peripheral vascular disease | 1 (4.3) | 1 (1.4) | .43 | 1 (1.6) | 1 (3.0) | 1 |
| Atrial fibrillation | 10 (43.5) | 36 (50.7) | .72 | 32 (52.5) | 14 (42.4) | .39 |
| Time to pass | 6:43 ± 2:55 | 6:57 ± 2:55 | .74 | 7:02 ± 3:05 | 6:41 ± 2:38 | .60 |
| Intravenous thrombolytic | 6 (26.1) | 21 (29.6) | 1 | 19 (31.1) | 8 (24.2) | .63 |
| Intra-arterial thrombolytic | 3 (13.0) | 4 (5.6) | .36 | 3 (4.9) | 4 (12.1) | .24 |
| Total attempts, median (IQR) | 4 (2) | 2 (2) | <.0001 | |||
| Complications | 9 (14.8) | 14 (42.4) | .006 | |||
| Subarachnoid hemorrhage | 6 (9.8) | 10 (30.3) | ||||
| Dissection | 1 (1.6) | 1 (3.0) | ||||
| Air embolism | 1 (1.6) | 2 (6.0) | ||||
| Device fracture | 2 (3.2) | 2 (6.0) | ||||
| Intraventricular hemorrhage | 0 | 2 (6.0) | ||||
| Perforation | 1 (1.6) | 0 | ||||
| Parenchymal HT, 72 hoursa | 2 (13) | 11 (16) | 1 | 10 (19) | 3 (10) | 0.5 |
a Eleven patients were not included because they were not able to undergo imaging 72 hours after intervention; none of these patients had HT on post-Merci CT; 7 of these patients had a poor final-outcome AOL score, while 4 had good final-outcome AOL scores. Seven of these patients underwent the optimal number of attempts, while 4 did not.